Die for forming axles



(No Model.)

J. SMITH.

DIE FOR FORMING; AXLBS; No. 299,431 Patented May 27 1884u WlTmkssEszz IVENTOR:

one part or half of the series.

\ llivirn STATES arnrir FFIQE.

JAMES SMITH, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DIE FOR FORMING AXLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 299,431, dated May 27,1884. Application filed December 1, 1863. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES SMITH, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk andState of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improve ments in Car-AxleDies, of, which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement on that described in Letters Patent ofthe United States No. 243,642, granted to me June 28, 881; and itconsists, first, in making the hammering portions of the dies whichcomplete the forging of the journal of such form in cross-section thatwhen said dies meet said hammering portions will form arcs of a circlewhose center is in the plane of the meeting faces of the die-blocks, andwill impart a perfect cylindrical form to the journal, the diameter ofthe latter being determined by that of the dies, so that there will beno material variation in the diameters of all the journals produced by agiven pair of dies.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 represents an end View of aseries of dies embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 represents a top view'of Fig. 3 represents a side Viewof a portion'of an axle.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings, a a represent the heads or blocks, in which are formedthe usual dies, b b c c, for roughly forging the car-axles, and dies 6 eand ff, for forging the journals of the axle.

As stated in my above-named patent, my invention does not relate to thedies 72 b c c, said dies being of the usual form and arrangement; nordoes my invention relate to the dies e c, as the peculiarity of saiddies, as hereinafter described, is set forth in said patent. The block ais supported rigidly on a suitable bed, and the block a is operated, inthe ordinary manner of operating a trip-hammer. The dies e e haveprojecting faces 6 c, with rounded ends, and adapted to form a groove orincipient journal in a car-axle of a lesser length than the completedjournal.

In the operation of the dies 0 e on a heated axle-bar placed betweenthem, each blow of the dies indents and at the same time elongates theportion of the axle with which it comes in contact. Thus the first blowforms of the first indentation are carried slightly.

outward in opposite directions, and so on until the faces e e haveentered the axle as far as they are able and formed a groove of therequired depth. The extreme length of this groove is greater than thatof the faces 6' e, so that the ends of the groove do not conform to therounded ends of the faces, but extend away from the same, the ends ofthe grooves being rough, and showing traces of each separate blow of thedies. The dies ff have faces f f, which are longer than the faces of thedies 6 6, their length being substantially equal to that of thecompleted groove or journal. The dies f f in operation do not materiallyincrease the depth of the grooves or journals, and therefore do notmaterially elongate the portions-of the axle in which the journals areformed. The dies f f finish the ends of said grooves, causing them toconform exactly to the ends of the faces f f. The difference in lengthbetween the faces f f and e e is such that very little metal isdisplaced by the ends of the faces f f, the efi'ect of the latter beingto give the desired form to the ends of the journals, causing them toapproximate closely the final form given by the lathe, so that theminimum of time, labor, and waste of material attends the finishingoperation.

The foregoing description is substantially identical with that given inmy above-named patent, and is given to avoid the necessity of referenceto said patent. My present improvement, so far as the same relates tothe dies, consists in making the hammering portions of the dies f f incross-section arcs of a circle whose center is in the plane of themeeting faces of the blocks a a, said dies forming, when the blocksmeet, a complete circle, excepting at and near the said meeting faces,where they are preferably enlarged or widened, as shown, to afford roomfor the lateral displacement of the metal of the journal caused'by theaction of the hammering portions of the dies above.

and below said enlarged portions, so that the displaced metal will notbe indented by the faces of the dies, but will form gentle protubersances, which can be readily reduced by rotatthe lathe to any materialextent.

ing the axle, and thus bringing said protuberances under the hammeringportions of the dies. The diesf are allowed to act on a journal untilthey meet, as shown in Fig. 1. The j onrnal is thus hammered to aperfectly cylindrical form, and has the same diameter as the spaceinclosed by said dies. The preceding dies are substantially oval incrossscction, each half-die being wider than it is deep, and they arenot allowed to act on the axle until they meet; but the axle is rotatedwhile being acted on by said dies, so that it is reduced to nearly theproper shape before reaching the diesf f. The axle is also rotated whilebeing acted on by the dicsfj", so that the protubcn ances abovementioned are reduced by the com pacting or condensing action of saiddies, and all parts of the surface are equally hardened.

-lVhen the journal leaves the dies ff, it is hammered to a cylindricalform, and is substantially completed, and requires only sufficientreduction by the lathe to impart the desired finish or smoothness. Thefinished journal therefore presents a uniformly hard hammered surface atall points, the metal hardened and condensed by the dies not beingremoved by have enlargements 1' f at their ends, which form theenlargements or shoulders on the axle at the ends of thejournals. Saidenlargements f are also semicircular, and are concentric with thejournal-forming portions f; hence the enlargements or shoulders on theaxle are hammered to a cylindrical. form, and are made 5 l formrepresented by Fi f of the drawings.

exactly concentric wit-h the journal.

17 i represent a pair of semicircular dies or grooves which are ofuniform size from end to end. Said dies are adapted to form thewheelseat 10 on the axle and give said seat the same perfection of formas that imparted to the journal by the diesff. In case the wheel-seat ismade larger than the shoulder or oil-seat at the inner end of thejournal, as shown in Fig.

The diesff 3, the dies or grooves f should have enlargementsf at oneend, adapted to form the outer end of the wheel-seat. The dies i 71finish the wheel-seat in continuation of the part finished by theenlargcmcntsf, so that the wheel-seat is necessarily concentric with thejournal, and is compacted and hardened on its surface like the journal.\Vhcn the wheel-seat is made of the same diameter as the shoulders atthe inner ends of the journal, the enlargement f" will not be required.The improved axle thus formed forms the subject of an application forLetters Patent of the 'l nited States filed by me July 20, 1883.

I claim ii. As a means for forging the journals of car-axlcs, the diescc, having faces a e of less than thelength of the completedjournal,joint- 1y with the dies f f, having faces f'f of substantiallythe same length as the completed journal, the hammering, portions ofsaid dies f lorming arcs ofa circle whose center is in the plane of themeeting faces of the die-blocks, whereby the j onrnal is forged to asubstantially perfect cylindrical form with a predetermined diameter, asset forth.

2. The dies ff in the blocks a a, for forming the arms of axles, eachdie presenting a hammer-face that is a short are only (less than thehalf) of a circle drawn from a point in the parting-line ot'the dies,and the two dies jointly having such configuration (indicated by f, f,f, and f) as would mold the axle-arm, its j ournal, shoulders, andwhcelscat to the finished In testimony whereof I have signed my name tothis specification, in the presence of two suhscribing witnesses, this26th day of Xovembcr, 1883.

JAMES SMITH.

\Vitnesses;

C. 1 Bnowx, A. L. WHITE.

